1. Field
The embodiments discussed herein are related to electronic devices. There are demands with electronic devices such as personal computers for even faster processing speed and greater variety of functions equipped. In order to meet such demands, electronic components in an electronic device have increasingly high performance and high density resulting in an increase of heat generated in the electronic device. Heat accumulated in an electronic device may cause a problem of deterioration of the electronic components and performance. Heat generated in an electronic device needs to be radiated efficiently.
A heat radiating mechanism for radiating heat in an electronic device is used which includes a heat sink and heat radiating fins. The heat sink absorbs heat generated by the electronic components and conducts the heat to an outlet provided in the housing of the electronic device. By feeding air to the outlet, the heat radiating fins make the air absorb heat of the heat sink and the air is exhausted from the outlet. A heat sink may include a heat radiating member and a heat conducting member. The heat radiating member has a plurality of heat radiating fins arrayed at equal intervals. The heat conducting member has a broad surface for conducting heat to the heat radiating member. The arrangement is such that the heat conducting member contacts the electronic components and the heat radiating member faces the outlet. The heat radiating member of the heat sink is interposed between the outlet and a fan which is arranged to feed air to the outlet. Such a heat radiating mechanism being equipped in an electronic device, the heat conducting member of the heat sink efficiently absorbs heat generated by the electronic components and conducts the heat to the heat radiating member, where air from the fan goes through the spaces between each of the plurality of heat radiating fins. As a result, air efficiently absorbs heat and then is exhausted from the outlet, which improves the efficiency of the heat radiation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a heat sink device can have an auxiliary heat radiating member including a plurality of heat radiating fins in the heat sink nearer the fan than the heat radiating member. The plurality of heat radiating fins can be arrayed obliquely with respect to the array of the plurality of heat radiating fins which compose the heat radiating member. Air from the fan may be dispersed by the auxiliary heat radiating member and then enters into the heat radiating member. In this way, this heat sink device can radiate the heat of each of the plurality of heat radiating fins.
A heat radiating member may include a flow path for air formed by the spaces between each of a plurality of heat radiating fins. Air from the fan enters from an air inlet that faces the fan and flows to an air outlet which faces the outlet of the housing to be exhausted out of the housing. If dust or the like caught by the fan clogs the air inlet of the heat radiating member at this time, sufficient air can not be fed into the air flow path between the fins. As a result, the efficiency of the heat radiation may be lowered. An approach to lessen this problem, is to make the interval of the heat radiating fins larger so that dust caught by the fan does not clog the air inlet.
However, if the interval of the heat radiating fins is large, foreign matter entering from the outlet of the housing may pass through the heat radiating member. Thus, the foreign matter may reach the precise electronic components leading to a failure of the electronic device e.g., s a short circuit.